Lest we forget what this Royal Selangor Jellyriffic Challenge is all about…

The whole point about this challenge to create 30 different uses for the Royal Selangor Jelly Mould is to raise awareness about breast cancer. Sure, we’ve been having fun making jellies, panna cottas, terrines, steamed cakes and musubi. We want to celebrate life, laughter and humor with our creations.

But we must remember that breast cancer is not something to play around with. As Annie herself learned with her breast cancer scare, if you feel a lump, go get it checked out right away. Over 4000 Malaysian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and many will die from this terrible disease.

So today’s creation, a Sago Gula Melaka, is intentionally colored rose pink to highlight again the importance of breast health maintenance and getting regular mammograms when appropriate.

Our Own Version

We’ve been wanting to post a sago gula melaka dessert for some time, even before the challenge came to us. It’s one of the more popular desserts here in Malaysia. A few of the other bloggers in this challenge have done their versions, of course.

Our version isn’t just colored differently, though. We also infuse the boiling water with cardamom and rose syrup. We normally use cardamom to spice up our Chicken Pho and also Indian dishes like briyani rice, rogan josh and kurma (all of which we haven’t blogged yet). It’s such a sweet, fragrant spice. So Annie thought that it might be nice to flavor the sago with it.

We also had some rose syrup and pink oil from our Sirap Selasih Konnyaku jelly recipe so we added a little of that to the boiling liquid as well.

I started off by steeping 4 cups of water with a teaspoon of cardamom seeds for about 15 minutes over a medium-low fire. Then I added about half a teaspoon of rose syrup and just a drop of pink coloring to the liquid and stirred that in. I next strained out the cardamom seeds from the liquid.

In the meantime, I soaked and rinsed a half-cup of sago pearls in water, drained them, and then added them to the strained steeping liquid. I cooked that over a low fire until the pearls became translucent. Then I drained the pearls into a sieve and spooned the pearls into one of the jelly moulds that I had sprayed with non-stick spray. The jelly mould went into the fridge to set overnight.

Dressing the Sago

The next day all I had to do was make the coconut milk and the gula melaka syrup. The coconut milk came in the form of a packet of santan powder. Just mix a little powder with hot water and stir until the powder is incorporated. Fresh coconut cream would have been better, but sometimes you have to use these packets.

For the gula melaka syrup I chopped up a couple tablespoonfuls of gula melaka in to fine pieces, then added that to a pot with a couple tablespoons of water. I got the kids to stir the gula around over a low fire until the syrup became thick enough. Eventually, it thickened into just the right consistency.

I inverted the cone onto the plate, and the sago came right out without any effort. Then I dressed it with the coconut milk and the gula melaka syrup.

This was really nice! It tasted different because of the cardamom and the rose, but in a good way. There wasn’t enough of this dessert to go around, as everyone clamored for one more bite.

Next thing you know – all gone.

Aloha, Nate

Please support Breast Cancer Awareness by purchasing a Royal Selangor Jelly Mould. Proceeds from the sale will go toward supporting the Breast Cancer Welfare Association You will get a chance to win an Olympus camera, plus a chance to vote for your favorite blogger!